Whitecliff Care Home

Updated 29 March 2023

The inspection

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act) as part of our regulatory functions. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Health and Social Care Act 2008.

As part of this inspection we looked at the infection control and prevention measures in place. This was conducted so we can understand the preparedness of the service in preventing or managing an infection outbreak, and to identify good practice we can share with other services.

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by 2 inspectors.

Service and service type

Whitecliff Care Home is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing and/or personal care as a single package under one contractual agreement dependent on their registration with us. Whitecliff is a care home with nursing care. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

Registered Manager

This provider is required to have a registered manager to oversee the delivery of regulated activities at this location. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Registered managers and providers are legally responsible for how the service is run, for the quality and safety of the care provided and compliance with regulations.

At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was unannounced.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spent time looking around the service and spending time talking with people and staff. We spoke with 6 people living at the service and 10 staff. Staff included the registered manager, acting manager, deputy manager, chef, maintenance and domestic leads and 4 carers. We spoke with 5 relatives and 3 professionals.

We looked at a range of documents including 6 care plans and associated documents relating to risk and safeguarding. We looked at medicine records for 6 people and documents relating to complaints, auditing, training and quality assurance. We looked at 4 staff files and staff rotas.

Updated 29 March 2023

About the service

Whitecliff Care Home is a nursing home providing nursing and personal care to up to a maximum 28 people. The service provides support to older people, most of whom lived with dementia and other conditions associated with older people for example, diabetes and people with mobility needs. Some people living at the service were living with a learning disability in addition to other conditions associated with older people. The service was split over three floors with communal areas, kitchen, and dining room on the ground floor. At the time of the inspection there were 22 people using the service.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

We expect health and social care providers to guarantee people with a learning disability and autistic people respect, equality, dignity, choices and independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. ‘Right support, right care, right culture’ is the guidance CQC follows to make assessments and judgements about services supporting people with a learning disability and autistic people and providers must have regard to it.

Right support

People were supported by staff that had been trained in most key areas. However, staff had not received training in respect of supporting people with learning disabilities. This was highlighted to the registered manager who took immediate steps to enrol all staff on learning disability training. Two members of staff had completed Makaton (a type of sign language) training and people were supported in communicating their needs by a staff team that knew people well.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice. However, in some care plans mental capacity assessments were not decision specific and referred only to ‘consent to care.’ We found some gaps in best interest decision recording relating to people sharing rooms.

Right culture

There was a positive culture at the service and everyone spoke well of the registered manager and wider management team. People, relatives, and staff all had opportunities to feedback about the service and raise issues and suggest improvements if needed. There were auditing processes in place that had the oversight of the registered manager. However, auditing had failed to identify the lack of training for learning disabilities and the lack of specific mental capacity assessments. The registered manager was responsive to the issues raised and took immediate steps to improve, however these improvements needed time to complete and to embed. The registered manager had established positive working relationships with other health and social care professionals which resulted in timely referrals for support for people which had resulted in positive outcomes.

Right Care

Care and support was person centred and staff knew people well. People were treated with respect and dignity and were supported to be as independent as possible without compromising their safety. We observed numerous interactions between people and staff during our inspection. People were treated with kindness and were given the time they needed during personal care or when being supported with meals. Relatives told us they were very happy with the support provided one saying, “The care is excellent, they make it feel like their own home.” A professional added, “The staff know people so well.”

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was good (published 4 February 2017)

Why we inspected

The inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service and the age of the last rating.

We looked at infection prevention and control measures under the Safe key question. We look at this in all care home inspections even if no concerns or risks have been identified. This is to provide assurance that the service can respond to COVID-19 and other infection outbreaks effectively.

We have found evidence that the provider needs to make improvements. Please see the effective and well-led sections of this full report.

The provider took immediate action to mitigate risk to people during the inspection.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Whitecliff Care Home on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.